


Querencia

by jacquie_bebop



Category: EXO (Band), SuperM (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Descriptions of Anxiety, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Mild Cursing, Slice of Life, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:34:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26775964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacquie_bebop/pseuds/jacquie_bebop
Summary: “Shh, I’m here, I got you,” the voice was low, a whisper in your ear, and yet it was comforting all the same. A man’s voice, lyrical and soft, gentle and soothing. The familiarity of it tickles at the back of your mind, but you can’t place it. He murmurs his assurance, rocking you carefully, like he was holding the whole universe in his arms. “You’re okay, everything is going to be okay now.”
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Reader, Byun Baekhyun/You
Kudos: 14





	Querencia

**Author's Note:**

> Last fall, my personal life when to complete and total shit. Right before it did, I kept having this recurrent dream, which isn’t normal for me at all. Each night it would expand a bit more, until several days later I finally ‘finished’ the dream, thinking then it would be done with. Nope, I kept having it, so I hoped that writing it down would get it out of my head. I ended up writing this two days before my life imploded, and part of me wonders if this dream was trying to warn me. Anyway, since I haven’t written in forever - I decided to share. I hope you enjoy 1.3k words of me being a total clown.
> 
> ➛song: Wake Up - EDEN & Please Notice - Christian Leave

You’re alone.

You don’t know much; not about where you are, or how you got there. But the abandonment, the overwhelming sense of loneliness is so thick that it chokes you, drowns you with nothing but air. Unconsciously, your hands claw at your neck in a feeble attempt to force it to work from the outside, to form new holes for breath to pass through.

Eyes widening, you scramble to stand, taking in your surroundings. You’re on a crowded street, but yet everything is far too bright - unnaturally bright, like the sun is dialed up at a hundred. It’s blinding in its power, and you wince before dropping your gaze back to the ground.

People mill about, unconcerned and nonplussed that you’re panicking in the middle of their daily commute. You go to shout, but your voice crumbles in your throat, unable to pass without the air that your lungs still aren’t getting. Fear licks at the base of your spine, and you start to throw your arms in the air, doing anything you can think of to alert someone, to get help - and yet it’s like they’re blind. They don’t see you, don’t care.

You’re completely invisible. 

Forcing yourself to pull a deep breath, you finally find your voice, gravelly against your tongue.

“Help! Someone please!”

Not one person slows, no one pauses to as so much look in your direction. You are a ghost on this street, a wraith screeching to deaf ears. Bile rises in your esophagus alongside your panic, and you feel desperation start to blur your vision with tears. 

Why did you need help? What was so urgent that the first thing you thought of upon awakening in this unfamiliar place was to yell for it, beg it from strangers? Nothing comes to you, and yet the need to continue to try is so deeply ingrained that your skin itches with it. 

“Can anyone hear me? Help! Someone fucking help me!”

You claw at a nearby ankle, hoping that if you could just reach out to them, just _touch_ them, that they would notice. They would be able to see just how much you needed to be saved, how much you needed to be pulled to the surface. But no one is ever quite close enough; no one is ever able to step inside the invisible force-field keeping you in perpetual anguish. 

Fear washes over you anew, and you wonder when this will end, when you will be able to escape whatever fresh hellscape you’ve been dumped into. The more you try to control your emotions, the more they feel rabid, like a beast kept in disproportionately small cage, waiting to burst free.  
  
“Please… please come back,” you whisper to no one, words hoarse and stinging as they leave your mouth. 

_Who were you searching for? Why did everything feel like it was too much?_

Giving up seemed like an easier fate.

It’s with a wail that you collapse, letting the tears spill down your cheeks, the sobs break through your chest. Clearly no one was going to save you from the darkness, no one was going to come to your rescue. The pain drills into your heart, squeezing until it seeps into your veins, your bones. You clutch at it, hoping you could stop the ache, hoping that if you pressed your fist against your breast hard enough that you’ll be able to reach in and cradle the organ to stop the agony it was feeling-

A pair of warm arms encircle your waist, and suddenly you were enveloped within a strong embrace, back pressed so tightly to their front that you could feel their pulse thrumming through their ribs. Your cries stutter, and you squeak against the new intrusion. 

“Shh, I’m here, I got you,” the voice was low, a whisper in your ear, and yet it was comforting all the same. A man’s voice, lyrical and soft, gentle and soothing. The familiarity of it tickles at the back of your mind, but you can’t place it.

He murmurs his assurance, rocking you carefully, like he was holding the whole universe in his arms. “You’re okay, everything is going to be okay now.”

His chin rests on your shoulder, tucking you closer to the warmth of his body. Nose nuzzling your neck, he inhales your scent deeply, sighing with ease. “I’m sorry it took me so long, but I’m here. I’m not leaving.” 

The relief floods you instantly, and it occurs to you that this was all you were hoping for, all you needed. You had been begging for a savior, and he had come in the form of hushed voices and sweet embraces, and you needed to see him, needed to touch him and thank him and see his face-

You spin, turning in his grasp to stretch your arms around his neck, and you peer up into his eyes, a smile tugging on your lips when you see who had come for you.

And then, you wake up.

Sweat sheens your body, lungs still in overdrive as you blink in the darkness. A dream, it had all been a dream, nothing but a dream.

More like a nightmare. Well, until the end, you supposed.

_Fuck, the end._

Swinging your legs out of the bed, you shuffle to your closet, throwing on the nearest clothes you could find that didn’t reek of depression and too much vodka before moving to the bathroom to brush your teeth, swipe a brush through your unruly locks.

The bedroom clock told you it was late - super late, way too late to be doing something like this - but the raw ache in your chest hadn’t eased when you opened your eyes, and you knew it wouldn’t until you spoke with him. 

It was like everything had shifted, everything had clicked perfectly into place, and nothing could keep you from him. You needed to find him, needed to take back all the bullshit you had spewed when your were trying to protect yourself, needed to show him what you really felt. You wouldn’t be able to rest until you were able to spill your soul - until you were able to give him your heart.

Grabbing your keys, you reach for the door, throwing it open to storm out until you hit a warm wall, stumbling back a few paces. 

“Baekhyun?” 

His eyes were warm, sparkling with mirth and something more, something deeper as he stared at you, panting as he fought to catch his breath. Though the lack of oxygen didn’t stop him from giving you a slow smirk.

“Going somewhere?” he gasps, a teasing lilt despite the heaving, hand digging into his hip to control his air. 

“I- I was coming to look for you.” your voice was raw, unrecognizable, but the words seemed to mean something to him all the same.

With a final inhale, he stabilizes, a hand coming to push up his glasses before raking through his bed styled hair. He was dressed almost as haphazard as you were, mismatching sweats probably too warm for the weather, but his brows were pinched in determination; like his only goal had been to be short of breath on your doorstep at 2:37 am.

Before you could blink he was stepping into your inseam, arms sliding around your waist like he had done it a million times before; like the only home they knew was when they were holding you. Sighing, you drape yours around his neck in return, burying your face into his chest and inhaling, eyes closing. 

Finally, the pressure in your ribs was lessened, your heartbeat was able to find it’s steady rhythm. Finally, your soul felt that peace you had been longing for. Finally, you were _home_.

His chin rests atop your head, bodies swaying like a willow in the breeze until he presses his lips against your crown. 

“I’m sorry it took me so long, but I’m here. I’m not leaving.”


End file.
